Increasing employee mobility and rising capabilities of end-user systems have spawned a proliferating number of Internet-based (“cloud”) storage systems such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, and Microsoft SkyDrive, to name a few. Generally speaking, such storage systems operate as massive file synchronization schemes, detecting changes in one instance of a “cloud-based” file and propagating those changes automatically to all other instances of that file, thus ensuring that all users have access to the latest version of the file.
Despite the collaborative advantages of cloud-based storage systems, the manner of user communications with respect to newly created or revised files remains largely unchanged. E-mail threads, phone messages and text messages abound as users communicate with one another regarding changes or creation of files of interest. Indeed, when faced with determining the status of a file or actions required, many users first resort to an e-mail search in an effort to extract the various messages relating to a given file or set of files from a morass of electronic communications. Voicemail messages and text messages are even more problematic, often being long since deleted by the time needed to guide user decisions or actions.